As per lecture –  in a sequence you’ve called ‘colour’ you will have clips that are indicative of a particular colour or lighting state. To the right of that clip you will have that same clip repeated 2 or more times with different colour grades on it.

Take screen grabs of each clip then upload to your blog the series of stills that show us ‘before and afters’ of your colour grading. Provide a few different examples of at least two different clips – each with a description of what you did to the clip and why.

This is a learning exercise, not necessarily a qualitative one, don’t stress – it is the act of doing it and the reflection on that, that is important

Lina & I used stills from our film to practice colour grading. This first image casts a blue tone from the light source behind the subject (window)

We altered with saturation settings, input and output levels, and the result is a much clearer image. The colours are more distinct and vivid, and the blue tone is not as over powering.

 

This next image of makeup products is quite dull and lacking contrast. However the assortment of products against the floor boards makes for an interesting shot.

So again, we used the colour correction tool, playing with saturation and input/output levels. There is much more contrast in colours and tones, creating some depth, particularly with the products in the background. Again, colours are more vibrant and interesting to look at.

 

In 200 words or less please outline your goals, desires – what you want to get out of this semester. You will review this later in the course. You may rethink this dramatically – this is a good thing.”

You were asked this at the beginning of the semester. Now, could you review constructively what you got from this semester –  has the course lived up to your expectations, delivered what you expected, maybe even surpassed it?

At the start of the semester I wrote:
“My goals and desires for this semester will be similar to what I wrote for Film-TV 1 at the beginning of the year. I still want to be more involved in the technical aspects of filmmaking and editing to challenge myself. The idea of not being strictly assigned to one role within the documentary making process appeals to me and I am excited to see how different it can be to making a drama.

When studying documentary in Cinema Studies last year I was really inspired by the screenings and learning how different documentaries can be. I hadn’t previously considered poetic or essay documentaries, so I look forward to what comes out of the research period.”

Doing documentary this semester has been a lot different than I expected. There is so much more freedom and room for exploration, which I probably haven’t taken advantage of. I enjoyed the research period of the semester, however could have expressed more in the film blog. It has definitely been a new experience working on my own idea and only with one other group member. Roles are much more flexible, and I’ve loved working with Lina as I think we both have similar ideas and hopes for our film.

I have done more filming and editing as there is only two of us. I’m still getting used to the concept of not planning every scene and even letting ideas come to us out of our random filming. I’ve learned that sometimes the documentary takes a different path than you first imagined, and that’s ok. I’ve also enjoyed hearing other class members’ ideas and results from filming.

In this clip from Forbidden Lies, Anna Broinowski’s 2007 film: describe in detail all of the audio, how it may have been recorded/sourced and how you think it has been edited / layered in post. (You do not need to describe how the music was recorded)

In this clip from Forbidden Lies (brilliant documentary by the way!), the audio has been given high priority. It plays an integral role in driving the narrative and setting the tone of information as its being presented.

It begins with a music video/parody advertisement using acoustic guitar for the soundtrack and sound effects to portray what would be realistic diegetic sounds, such as birds singing, cars driving past, fabric moving in the wind, etc. However these sound effects are created as ‘foley’ and would have been recorded seperately and added in post production. The music then suddenly cuts as though a tape player has been stopped.

Silence is then utilised as the interview participant is speaking to camera. As the dialogue continues and claims from the book are being proven false, more sound effects are utilised to emphasise the ‘lies’. Sound effects include: a cash register opening, chimes, a camera click/flash, shaker/rattle. These ‘landmark’ the breakthroughs in proving the author wrong as  if checking off a list.

When we learn more about the journalist, the music returns as very quiet traditional Arabic/Middle Eastern music. This could be a subtle way of giving her a sense of authority and authenticity as she is a “real” Jordanian woman and expert.

This switches to more upbeat jazz style music as the tone changes. Now that so many false claims are being disproven, the mood is comical and it’s nearly humorous as the sound effects continue to pinpoint errors. The mood is much lighter.

The director has also asked both women to read the same excerpt from  the book, and in post production has overlayed them. I really like this effect, as we can hear the words directly from the mouth of the author as the facts are being questioned at the same time. It nearly tells us that she is lying (from page 3!) and deceiving, all while confidently reading and putting on a facade. Without explicitly saying so, the director is telling the audience to be wary of the author and that we are going to get taken for a ride, which turns out to be so crazy it’s laughable.

Most applications reserve keyboard shortcuts for the functions that you use most often. It is really good to learn all of these as it will speed up your editing and additionally alert you to functions that the software developers and other users find important. (You can learn much about the software by looking at keyboard shortcuts).

Find the keyboard shortcuts for Premiere (hint, film-tv blog) and note four or more functions that you’ve never used before and why they may be invaluable to your editing. (Different functions to what you wrote last semester)

There are lots of shortcuts for Premiere that I haven’t used yet. Some one’s to keep handy for editing in the next few weeks will be:

Display entire project in Timeline:  \

This will be good for keeping track of footage, as we will accumulate lots of different material and will need to be able to view what we have all up before zooming in and editing more throughly. It will also be a good tool to keep track of time.

PlayForward:  Space or L,(+ Shift key for slow playback) repeat key press for faster playback speed

I always like to review the clip I have been working on as I edit to make sure I’m getting the result I want. So this will come in handy.

Effects Controls: Shift + 5

I haven’t used many effects in Premiere before, but might suit some of our footage.

Snap to Edges (toggle on/off): S

I wasn’t aware there was a shortcut for this – will definitely need it for fine editing and putting together quick cuts.

“From a distant gaze …” (1964) directed by Jean Ravel, picture Pierre Lhomme & Chris Marker, words by Louis Aragon, narrated by Jean Negroni, music by Michel Legrand. Describe a few things that intrigue you – it might be shot construction, camera work, editing, overall structure, thematic concerns etc. Describe the camera work and why you think it has been shot that way.

I really enjoyed this short film. I think what intrigues me the most is the overall structure, and how what appears to be a simple concept, can be much more.

The camera is constantly moving and shifting focus from one thing to another – everything is equal, whether the subject be a person, bus, or bag. The camera becomes more than an observer, it is an eye and has a personality. The camera mimics the human eye as it observes the surrounding world.

As the title suggests, the film views people on the street “from a distant gaze”, and it satisfies the human interest in watching others. I want to know their stories, where they are going and what is making them laugh. For me, it is a snippet into what it is like to be a human, and how we interact with each other.

Select from one of the readings and briefly describe two points that you have taken from it. Points that interest you, something you could apply to your own documentary.

Ruoff, Jeffrey. Conventions of sound in documentary. In Cinema Journal,  vol. 32, no. 3, 1993.

I found the evolution of documentary styles since the 1950s interesting, particularly the television series An American Family, as a ‘real life soap opera’. I can notice the progression to reality television and why they are so popular today.

The reading also explains location sound in documentary, which will be very useful to keep in mind when shooting our own documentary. We’ve had some issues with audio and need to test out our audio equipment to ensure consistency throughout the film.

 

Paste the link here from your version of the abstract editing exercise.
Then reflect on the whole process – Consider: the quality and usability of your recordings; the effect of layering and juxtaposition of both the audio and the video and; the things you learnt from working with this kind of audio and video.

Whoops my abstract video is on the media server – I will upload it to my blog on Thursday 🙂

I found the exercise to be a good way to ease myself back into the editing process. As I’ve mentioned, I’m usually lucky to be in a group with more tech savvy members who don’t mind editing, but as a result I don’t get to do much myself. So it was good for me to tackle this exercise alone and see what I could create. It was a lot more time consuming than I thought it would be, but I’m pretty happy with the result.

There was some really nice visual material to choose from, and I played around with cutting and the ‘rhythm’ of the piece; purposely leaving black cuts for a few beats to juxtapose with a very bright visual pattern.

The audio recordings weren’t as diverse and we only had 3 to choose from, which was a bit limiting. I would have liked to layer some of the audio and make more cuts to create an interesting sound scape, however need to practice more in Premier, or do some editing in Garage Band first.

I think it all comes together well (in a very abstract way!) and my idea was to start the piece fast paced and mechanical. I edited together vision of escalators and elevators under fluorescent lighting then used a feature light/pattern and break in audio to transition to our outdoor/natural shots. I like the changes in tempo, and think that the footage at the end is really well captured.

Select from one of the readings and briefly describe two points that you have taken from it. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you.

Baker, Maxine. Documentary in the digital age, P. 1-26.

I found this reading interesting in general as it discusses The Thin Blue Line, a film I watched in True Lies last year and really enjoyed. It is a great introduction to the question ‘what is a documentary?’ as it uses many different techniques to tell a story, not dissimilar to fiction films.
“It is a re-enactment of lies. Not reality. It is unreality, falsehood. Based on the point of view of the witnesses, you are treated to the spectacle of imagery which you are told shows you something of the real world but which is untrue.’ – Errol.

This also excites me because like Errol, we can approach our documentary creatively and inject some of the techniques (lighting, camera angles etc) from last semester to create a really beautiful and dynamic film, even though I have some preconceptions of what a documentary film ‘should’ look like.

In the lecture we screened a short film called ‘End of the Line’ – the film shot in Broken Hill. Please describe in 300 words or less if you think they achieved what they set out to do.You may not remember much detail, if so, it could be helpful to talk about your first impressions, after all this is what most of us are left with after one viewing. The treatment which we showed in the lecture is avalaible here

My first impressions of End of the Line were that it successfully painted a picture of what life can be like in Broken Hill. The scenery and shots of the landscape worked well opening the documentary and giving the viewer a sense of the place, however I was mostly interested by the selection of participants.

The interview with the woman who featured most was really powerful. She was very open and I felt for her as she used humour to mask a strong underlying feeling associated with Broken Hill about dying in the desert and loneliness. I’m not sure if the overall goal was to present Broken Hill as a depressing and slightly eerie place, but that is definitely the feeling I got.

The soundtrack played a large part in this. I can’t remember what it was exactly, but it was repetitive and droning, which added to the ’emptiness’ and open land of the town.

Select from one of the readings and briefly describe two points that you have taken from it. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you. 

Curran Bernard, S. Documentary storytelling for film and videomakers pg 75-79

One theme or general topic can be interpreted very differently by different filmmakers. These differences are known as approach – or how you present your story onscreen. This can be a good starting ground to develop your shooting schedule around and think about the practicalities of shooting your documentary.

Watching other films can also help you to identify style and approach. Documentary includes many sub genres, so any topic has potential to become many different films, each with their own approach. Every element used in the film has potential to be presented in a different way – for example, actors can read material in voice-over, use title cards to identify time and place, use of narration, inclusion of the filmmaker to guide the film, etc.
There are also specific questions to ask yourself while planning, including: will you interview people alone or together? Inside or outside? informally or a formal interview? will the audience hear the interviewer’s questions? etc.

In 200 words or less please outline your goals, desires – what you want to get out of this semester. You will review this later in the course. Many will rethink this dramatically by the end of the course – this is a good thing.

My goals and desires for this semester will be similar to what I wrote for Film-TV 1 at the beginning of the year. I still want to be more involved in the technical aspects of filmmaking and editing to challenge myself. The idea of not being strictly assigned to one role within the documentary making process appeals to me and I am excited to see how different it can be to making a drama.
When studying documentary in Cinema Studies last year I was really inspired by the screenings and learning how different documentaries can be. I hadn’t previously considered poetic or essay documentaries, so I look forward to what comes out of the research period.

In this week’s lecture, scenes from Scott Ruo’s ‘Four Images’, Brian Hill’s ‘Drinking for England’ and Chantal Akerman’s ‘D’Est’ were screened.  Choose one of these, and consider, in a single paragraph, what might have intrigued, interested, displeased or repelled you.

I watched ‘Drinking for England’ by Brian Hill on YouTube, and I was mostly intrigued by the natural flow of information and dialogue coming from the participants. The poetry sections were also unexpected in a documentary genre film, but work well within the ‘culture’ of the British bar setting.
The only aspects that displeased and repelled me were the late 80s hairstyles haha! And I am not a huge fan of overlaying footage on top of one another, as some of the drinking scenes have been edited.

Listen to the first 10 minutes of Glenn Gould’s radio documentary, “The Idea of North”. Record your impressions in a paragraph or two.

The Idea of North seems to compile multiple personal experiences and perspectives about one subject. The different voices and points of view act almost as streams of consciousness, flowing in and out of volume/focus and always changing dominance. The sounds in the background add to the atmosphere using bells, gusts of wind, train running on the tracks, and murmurs from the crowd.

Listen to the audio you recorded in Tute #1.  Here. Write a paragraph or two about your recording from a technical and/or “poetic” perspective. Consider:
What these sounds evoke for you.  What associations they have. Do any of your recordings suggest images?  What might they be? Do any of your recordings suggest the possibility of other recordings?

Recording 1: Distant with not a lot of ambient sound. Voices are echoed and the voice heard through the speaker is automated and robotic. The human conversation is happening further away and adds to the eerie or distant feeling. For me, this suggests a sterile and white environment.

Recording 2: This recording has many different layers of changing music coming in and out of audio ‘focus’, and many different voices and languages can be heard. There is also mechanical noises such as a coffee machine. There is a busy and ‘bustling’ atmosphere conveyed, which was our aim as we were recording in the cafeteria. Moving the directional mic around helped to change the focus of sounds.

Recording 3: Pool tables and human conversation and interaction dominates this piece. Movement of pool balls and people opening doors flows throughout, and I get a relaxed, youthful emotive response. The music in background, and laughter and reaction to the environment makes it come ‘alive’ and I get a real sense of being there. This soundscape might have some kind of narrative to it and could suggest the possibility of other recordings.

 

 

 

 

Please write constructive comments/reviews of the films you saw. It can be just just those you loved the most or intrigued you the most.

MILK: This was one of my favourites from the rough-cut screening, and it lived up to my expectations. The shot of the spilt milk on the floor with the title looked amazing and the added audio throughout the film came together nicely (particularly the tv newsreader’s voice). I think the ‘time/countdown’ element would have been a bonus, as discussed in the rough-cut feedback. But the audience still seemed to ‘get it’ and enjoyed the humour.

THE HOLE: I was intrigued by this film, particularly since it was mostly in black and white. I thought it had a kind of Parisian silent film look, with the beach location and almost slapstick humour. But then the main male character was very ‘Aussie’ and crude. Moments like offering his sandwich (and then stuffing it in his shorts!) and the awkward date scene worked well for the type of humour. I didn’t quite understand the transition from black and white to colour, but maybe I need to watch it again.

OPERATION ORANGE COUNTY: The use of the visible text messages onscreen was so well done! If there was another way to also build up anticipation of the main character getting caught, or going to a bit more trouble to obtain the dvd’s, I think that the end could have had a stronger reaction.

CARL: I love Carl. The film was very very well cast, and the awkward tension was just right, the actors did an amazing job. My favourite scene was the Monopoly game, it was a simple and short scene, but gave the audience just enough time to share an in-joke with the characters. I really appreciate the camerawork in this film. I’d have to watch it again to know the exact technique used, but it is well-shot and clear, whilst moving slightly to maintain a fun/human gaze-like quality. Excellent work.

PRANKING FRANK: Another one of my favourites (I obviously love comedy). I thought the script and delivery by the actors was brilliant. Loved the story idea and thought it was cast very well.

A LOVE LOST: The use of voice over in A Love Lost worked really well, the audience could empathise with the main character straight away. The mood of the film was very sombre and the contrasting scenes in the restaurant (day/night) worked very well. It was not confusing at all for the audience, and it was a good idea to contrast the memory scenes from reality by using the same table and location. The mobile phone motif was enough to understand what was going on without having to explicitly tell the audience. Also, the lighting was great, loved the candlelight.

Please reflect on how you feel about the course. What surprised you, what excited you, what disappointed you. What we could have done better. What you could have done better.

WEEK 1: My goals for this semester include being more active in the filming and editing process. I tend to lean more towards organising the group I’m in and screen writing. I want to be more confident using equipment and know the set up I need to get the audio and visual results I’m after.

And although I enjoy the writing process, I haven’t yet written for screen, or any type of script, so I look forward to writing something that can be translated onscreen. I think that I will learn a lot this semester.

WEEK 14: I totally forgot what I’d written in week 1! It’s a bit awkward because I didn’t take up a technical role in the group, and was the Producer/Project Manager, so ended up utilising the organising and administrative skills I outlines above.

So although I didn’t take on a technical role in filming or audio, or even write a script, I definitely know a lot more about each element of making a film. The tutorials were great for this, as I got to learn how to use the equipment and have a go. I could have learnt a lot more by attending the lectures. I am not disappointed that I stuck to my strengths when choosing a role within the group, as I learnt a lot more about what is involved in Producing a film. I would still like to be more involved in the actual filming process in the future though.

Film and TV 1 has been one of my favourite subjects of my course so far, and I really enjoyed having a final short film to show for our efforts throughout the semester. It has been hard work and a lot of hours, but has been well worth it, and the screening was a great night. I think that course structure is well-rounded and includes enough about each role in the filmmaking process, as well as time devoted to learning and practising how to use the equipment. The self and peer assessments are also very fair and an accurate way of establishing marks. I’ve had a great semester and look forward to learning more in Film and TV 2.

Consider Sandra’s lecture “Directing Actors” and describe at least a couple of points that you took away from it (even if you’re not the director).

Sandra’s lecture provided practical advice on how to direct actors. She pointed out that the actors will be doing their own thing, and it is important to keep them motivated on set to get the best out of them on the day.

Ensuing that the director is communicating their vision in a way that makes sense to the actor is very important to ensure that everyone is working towards the same goal while shooting.

This was very helpful to keep in mind on our shooting day, as it was a long shoot and keeping the actors happy was a priority. Each had their own process for preparing for their scenes, and we had to concentrate on our own work to capture their best performances.

In this clip screened in the lecture from the Coen brothers’ ‘Blood Simple‘ describe what is happening in terms of the edits specifically in terms of the audio and video. Also name the different kinds of audio you can hear.

In this clip from Blood Simple, there are lots of elements making up the soundscape. Electrical ‘humming’, chairs creaking, papers shuffling, crickets calling from outside, footsteps, water running from the bathroom, etc. These are all realistic noises one might expect to hear in this environment, however I would assume make sound effects would have been added in post production.

The visual editing is pretty standard in this scene. Use of ‘J cuts’ makes the conversation between the two characters easy to follow.
Find the keyboard shortcuts for Adobe Premiere and note two or more functions that you’ve never used before that may be invaluable to editing.

– Duplicate Ctrl+Shift+/
– Paste Attributes Ctrl+Alt+V
– Group Ctrl+G

 

 Lecture 7 Lighting: What was covered? Do you think the content is relevant to your project? And why?

The lighting lecture covered all aspects of lighting to think about when planning our shoots. The importance of running a practice shoot was stressed, as it helps to determine what lighting kits you’ll need to book, as well as the lighting set up/positioning of lights. Lighting techniques were also described as a way to add to the script, i.e.. character mindset, mood, time of day etc.

This is all very relevant to our projects, and was apparent during our shoot day on Saturday. I didn’t have a lot to do with the physical shooting of our film as I am Producer/Project Manager, however setting up the lighting for each shot was very time-consuming. We knew what effect we wanted for each shot, however would have greatly benefited from a test shoot to be more efficient on the day.

Select from one of the readings from week 5, 6 or 7 and describe two points that you have taken from it. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you.

I found the reading ‘Acting is Doing’ by Sydney Pollack in conversation with John Boorman really interesting.

There is a strong relationship between the actor and the director in film. As long as the director can get the best performance out of the actor for that scene, editing can take care of putting the film together.

Sydney tries not the be too direct in his instructions to the actors, as he feels that acting is very results-based, which puts pressure on the actors and may not bring out their best performance. He tries to imagine the scenario as not a film scene, but a true-to-life event.

It makes sense when John brings up the association example of Eisenstein, as I have discussed his theory in cinema studies. Sometimes the expression on someone’s face is interpreted by the audience, depending on what else they have been shown. So realistically, the actor does not always need to be overtly ‘acting’ in order to give a realistic performance.

Sydney explains that he needs to view the scene from the camera’s ‘eye’ or perspective, to ensure that he is experiencing the scene in the same way that the audience will. However, he also stresses the importance of watching the actor perform in front of you, as oppose to watching only the monitor. This is a good point, as on our shoot last week I liked being able to watch the action from the monitor to see how it was looking on screen, but it could have been disheartening for the actors if Lauren, our director was doing the same and not engaging with them and their real-life performances.

Blow Up is a 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. In this scene note the choreography of the actors, camera, frame and focus. As covered in the lecture describe the things Antonioni would have have to consider when directing the actors and the camera.

Antonioni would have had a lot of considerations whilst planning this scene. The actors move from outdoors to indoors and enter numerous rooms. Blocking of the actors would have been carefully planned in order to capture them in the interesting and often unconventional ways he does. Multiple cameras or takes of the same shot would have been used from different angles to get the amount of coverage that is shown. The scene is very fluid, and ever-moving, so must have been carefully choreographed in order to work and appear natural.

Lighting would have needed to be kept consistent throughout, and it needed to be believable as an interior building during the day. There are also some shots that use reflective surfaces, so the camera and crew would have been placed in a way that they are out of frame.

Please outline some points that you took away from the Lighting Lecture. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you, perplexes you or even one you take issue with.

I found lighting very interesting to learn about. It seems pretty straightforward, but there are so many different set ups and adjustments that can be made to create different effects. I am excited about the multiple ‘looks’ we can use in our film just by adjusting the focus, using gels, or setting up cutters.

This also overwhelms me, as there is so much to think about, and we may need extra hands on the set to maintain control over the lighting. If we decide to use cutters, set up time will be a lot longer, and we need to incorporate lighting plans into our story boards. Something else that I hadn’t given thought to before the lecture was energy use. Figuring out how much electricity you can use from each power circuit will come in very handy when we shoot.

Lenny exercise 2 – List the things that you learnt from this experience – this could be things that went well or not so well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoNkEMhKQAg

Lenny 2

I enjoyed the Lenny exercise, and it was a great chance for our group to try working together. I think that our location was not ideal – there was a lot of traffic noise from La Trobe street, as well as pedestrians walking in front of the camera. I knew that audio would be an issue, and we had difficulties with the levels.

White balance was also an issue, as it was a cloudy day and the sunlight was not consistent. We could have planned a bit better before shooting to find a more confined and easy-to-control location to fix these problems, however I am pleased with the result given the time frame.

I tried to keep track of our takes and write notes as we shot, but it was difficult as I had to stand in as an actor. If we had someone to act in our Lenny I could have been a lot more detailed with my shot notes. which could have assisted our editors afterwards. I really like the effects that Kevin and Mark used when they edited, and was proud of our final result.

In the film Clown Train how does sound contribute to the atmosphere of this film? Describe what you heard? Can you make reference to another genre film and how they utilise sound to create tension and a unique filmic space?

Sound plays a big part in Clown Train. Silence is prominent throughout the short film, and manages to aid the subtle changes in atmosphere as the film progresses. The lack of sound creates pauses that are at times humorous, and tense at others. Eerie and echoing sounds can be heard in parts, which gives us a sense of setting in an unknown underground location. Buzzing sounds effects can be heard whenever the train lights flicker on and off, which works well with moments of complete darkness to build intensity. One film that comes to mind when discussing sound to create tension is The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock. In many scenes we are watching and waiting as the occasional bird call breaks the eerie silence. I think also that highlighting silence in a film is unexpected itself, and so we as the audience become unsure of the character we are watching, and wonder if their actions will also be unconventional.

Select from one of the readings, up to but not including Week 5, and briefly describe two points that you have taken from it. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you. 

Reading: Bresson, R. Notes on the cinematographer, Sight and Hearing.

– Sound and image should not support each other, but must work in turn – like a relay.
This is helpful in thinking about how we will layer sounds and images in our films. Audiences can be impacted by strong visuals, then taken in another direction with sound and vise versa.

– The eye solicited alone makes the ear impatient, the ear solicited alone makes the eye impatient. But these impatiencies can be used to create a mood, atmosphere, tension, comedic moment etc. This also sets a pace for the film and guides the audience through the reactions we want them to experience.

In the tute we screened a short film called Rolling – a film made in Film-TV1 a few years ago. In 300 words or less describe what you thought worked or didn’t. At this stage we don’t expect you to have a great deal of film knowledge or language. Don’t be afraid to use your own words. Things you could talk about – script, casting, timing, camera movement, location. You may not remember much detail, if so, it could be helpful to talk about your first impressions, after all this is what most of us are left with after one viewing.

I really enjoyed watching the film Rolling. I think that the storyline was simple yet engaging, sweet and humorous. Given that the setting and circumstances didn’t change much, the actors a chance to really express their characters and explore the dynamic of their relationship.

I thought that the male actor did a great job in remaining believable, and we were totally on his side from the beginning of the film. The script was natural and conversational, which is important when presenting real life, although I thought that some dialogue from the female actress appeared a bit too forced.

I didn’t really like the look of the supermarket where most of the film was shot. The characters were very personable, yet the setting was cold and the fluorescent. The fixed lighting also gave a strange effect when the camera moved, throwing off the white balance, which was a little distracting. Another shooting location probably wouldn’t have worked with the script, as the toilet paper was the main comedic aspect to the film, but perhaps a different lighting set up could have helped.

The timing of the dialogue was great, and really gave a sense of each character’s personality and unique traits.